Anglicans (Episcopalians) have new US home in Catholic church

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI named a married former Episcopal bishop Sunday to head the first U.S. organizational structure for disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians who want to join the Roman Catholic Church.

The Rev. Jeffrey Neil Steenson, a father of three and Catholic convert, will lead the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the equivalent of a diocese, that will be based in Houston, Texas, but will operate nationally.

The Vatican created the first such ordinariate in Britain last year. Other ordinariates are being considered in Australia and Canada.

Steenson stepped down in 2007 as the Episcopal Bishop of Rio Grande, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after the Episcopal Church elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Steenson had said he was “deeply troubled” about the direction of the U.S. denomination and he described the Catholic Church as the “true home of Anglicanism.”

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body in the United States.

Benedict in 2009 issued an unprecedented invitation for Anglicans to become Catholic in groups or as parishes, at a time when traditional Anglicans in several countries were increasingly upset by the ordination of women and gay bishops. Formerly, Anglican converts to Catholicism were accepted on a case-by-case basis.

The pope’s decision created tensions with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the world Anglican Communion, who like his predecessors had been in talks with Vatican officials to bring Anglicans and Catholics closer together.

The 77-million-member Anglican fellowship has its roots in the Church of England, which split from the Holy See in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment.

At the time of the pope’s announcement, Anglicans were already fracturing over Robinson’s election and other issues. Williams had little advance notice of the Vatican announcement. Still, after meeting privately with the pope soon after, the archbishop of Canterbury said he was convinced that there was no “dawn raid” on his church by the Holy See.

Under the pope’s plan, Anglicans who become Catholic will be allowed to keep some of their heritage in liturgy and other areas. Married Anglican priests who convert can stay married and be ordained in the Catholic Church, an exception to the Vatican’s celibacy rule. Married Anglican bishops, however, cannot retain that position, and will serve the Catholic Church as priests.

More than 100 Anglican clergy have applied to become Catholic priests in the U.S. ordinariate. Church officials said more than 1,400 individuals are seeking to join. The U.S. Episcopal Church has just under 2 million members. Many Anglo-Catholics in the United States had never been part of the Episcopal Church.

Steenson, 59, who has a doctorate from the University of Oxford, has been married since 1974 and has three adult children. His wife also converted to Catholicism. He was ordained as a Catholic priest in 2009 in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and helped create the education and training program for Anglican priests seeking to join the Catholic Church.

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AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll contributed from New York.

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U.S. ordinariate: http://www.usordinariate.org/

Sudan Issues Arrest Warrant for Malik Agar, Yasir Arman and 15 Others

Khartoum – Prosecutor of Supreme Tribunal of the Blue Nile State, Abdul Fatah Suleiman Abdul Fatah, issued an arrest warrant for Malik Agar, Yasir Arman and 15 former members of the Blue Nile State Government and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Saturday.

This is in accordance with his powers under Article (78) of the Criminal Procedures Act, 1991.

The Prosecutor said the accused undertook specific roles in the crimes perpetrated in the Blue Nile State for which measures were taken in accordance with the Criminal Act by an inquiry committee based on an order from the Minister of Justice.

He said he came to know that the accused have fleed to prevent the execution of the warrant of arrest issued against them, calling on the accused to surrender themselves to the nearest police station within a period not later than a week from the issuance of this notice.

The warrant of arrest is issued for: Ali Bandar Al-Sisi, Former Cabinet Minister; Zaed Eissa Zaed, Former Minister of Agriculture; Mamoon Hamad, Former Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly; Ahmed Al-Umda John, Maj. Gen. ,commander of Division (10); Al-Jundi Suleiman, Brigadier, commander of joint forces; Mohamed Younis Babikir, Brigadier, SPLA; Joseph Teka, Maj. Gen., second commander of the Division; Al-Samani Agar Eyre, Col., SPLA; Abdullah Ibrahim Abbas, Secretary General of the SPLM; El-Tayeb Bakouri, Major, SPLA; James Tut, Commander, brigade (2); Obeid Abu Shutal, Former adviser to Khartoum State governor; Farajallah Hamid Jadool, SPLM and Samuel Jok, SPLM and Yasir Saeed Arman, SPLM.

Steve Paterno: The Problems of Ethnic Conflict in South Sudan

by

Steve Paterno

In South Sudan, ethnic or inter-ethnic conflict is as an old phenomenon as the rival communities themselves. However, in recent years, the proliferation of modern weaponry in the hands of the civilians increase the level of violence both in scale and intensity. Normally, some of these conflicts are precipitated by an incident involving the murder of a rival group, which often triggers a retaliatory action. In some cases, it does not matter under which circumstances the murder has taken place. Even if it is an accident, a retaliatory response always escalate the violence. Cattle rustling, nonetheless, remains the biggest culprit behind these conflicts. The current case pitting the Lou Nuer on one side and the Murle on the other in Jonglei state underscores this point. Just within the last few months, more than one thousand people from both sides of the conflict are killed. Scores of villages are razed on the ground.

A recent scene of hundreds of thousands of armed Lou Nuer marching across the Jonglei state, attacking the Murle villages has finally caught wider attention. Both the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan and the South Sudanese military responded by deploying troops in Pibor town; the major Murle town, which is currently under siege by the Lou Nuer. Nonetheless, the efforts of the peacekeeping force and that of South Sudanese military is too little, too late to avert the catastrophy.

For starters, the number of the UN peacekeeping force in the area is inadequate. UN deployed only a size of a battalion in the major town, leaving the rest of the civilians on the outskirt of town vulnerable. The UN effort is also hampered by serious logistical challenges. UN lacks air transport. It only relies on few civilian helicopters for ferrying its troops. The road to the region is treacherous and impassable. According to Lise Grande, the UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, the convoy sent for reinforcement “simply didn’t make it. They got stuck in the mud and they couldn’t enter the town.” Grande concludes that these major constraints are “affecting the operational effectiveness” of the UN on the ground.

The response of South Sudan government is equally pathetic, marred by major challenges and lack of political willingness in addressing the situation. In an interview with BBC, Jonglei governor Kuol Manyang Juuk acknowledged the difficulties facing South Sudan government that the government “can’t work miracles” under the current scenario. South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar who rushed to the scene with the message of peace is simply scuffed off and ignored by the Lou Nuer armed gangs who continued on with their onslaught. They were eventually able to overwhelm the depleted UN and South Sudanese forces in the process.

Also full of flaws is the instituted South Sudanese disarmament effort. The disarmament effort misses the core of the issue, which has its roots in the tradition of the rivaling groups. Worse yet, the disarmament are always partial, targeting one community at a time. Then the collected weapons are not accounted for, because the military commanders who collected those guns resale them to the next highest bidders for personal profits, whereby those weapons are reused again in the next cycle of killings.

In order to resolve this age-old traditional rivalries, the government must provide uniform security to ensure the safety of the entire citizens of South Sudan so as one community should not feel threatened by the other. This should not only guarantees a comprehensive disarmament, but may cause the opposing communities to be reluctant to attack one another. A strict law enforcement, plus institutionalization of judiciary system should then be applied, with a particular focus to those who carry on with cattle raiding activities and committing murders with guns. The government must depend on the traditional authorities by empowering them in dealing with issues related to ethnic violence. The fact that the Lou Nuer warriors could not listen to the Vice President Riek Machar demonstrates a serious disconnect between the authorities and civilians—a fact that should have already worry those power in Juba. Programs targeting youth, such as sports and others must be promoted by the government, NGOs, and other relevant agencies to engage the youth so as they stop indulging in cattle raiding or killing the next neighbor. More importantly, significant emphasize must be placed in education and employment, not only to create a more understandable society, but a prosperous one as well.

Otherwise, the government inability to arrest the situation will lead into prolong wide conflicts and even massacres reminiscent of Bor’s incident of 1991. The time is now for the government to take charge and ensure the safety of all the South Sudanese citizens.

Oil Giant Shell Plans Oil Pipeline Construction from South Sudan to Ethiopia

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Fighters attack South Sudan town despite presence of UN peacekeepers
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A worker lays out bags of grain at the Doro refugee camp about 26 miles from the border in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state. Khartoum, Sudan (CNN) — Thousands of fighters attacked the remote town of Pibor in South Sudan, even as the United Nations …

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Press Release Statement From The Lou Nuer Youth in Frontline at Pibor and Lilkuangole, Jonglei, Murleland

The Lou Nuer Youth in Murle territories rejected inappropriate labeling of their anticipated self defence against the Murle community in Jonglei

An attempt to marry peace and justice after ethnic conflict in Jonglei remains largely incomplete in the region. It is not the Lou Nuer’s fault, it is your incomplete and incapability to execute the order appropriately with balance considerations of all people in the State!

President Kiir Mayardit
CC Dr. Riek Machar
Cc: Regional Governor- Kuol Manyang Juuk
Cc: UN Humanitarian team
Cc: SPLA head division 8

January 1, 2012 (SSNA) — It is apparently clear that the South Sudanese and international community at large misinterpreted our anticipated self-defence against Murle community. This is to remind the international community and our national society that the fighting currently taking place in Jonglei is an anticipatory self defense and retaliations, reference to the Uror County attack on August 18/2011, the Mareng attack and Nyandit attacks of 2009. The Lou Nuer Youth had endured the Murle unfriendly behavior with patient and tolerant. The Nuer culture have taught us to forgive and give enough time to the people to rethink of what they had done to us without any cause while waiting for friendly negotiations. We are sorry that the Murle warriors were on run and they could not relief and cease our angry by confronting us in the day time.

We have heard enough complains through the news that our attack against the Murle is not a retaliations and revenges of Uror county attack. This is not true. The reason why we delay not to attack Murle as soon was because we had been searching for the missing members and re-organizing our youth who were scattered during the Murle attacks in
Uror County. If the US government can take about one month to retaliate against the Afghanistan’s terrorists, how would you expect the disarmed community to retaliate and defense themselves right on spot without guns in their hands? The August 18/2011 attack on Uror left many people missing, burn houses to ashes and killed women, old folks and children from age of zero upward.

For many months and years, we kept quiet thinking that Murle would apologize and accept peace negotiation but instead, they kept attacking and attacking our community even after the Uror County massacres. We had given enough time to the government of South Sudan in order to disarm Murle but until these days, there was nothing being done in regard to the atrocities made by Murle community or to disarm them completely. We had acknowledged that the government had no proposal and plan to disarm, mediate and bring the culprit to justice. If human being’ life worth important to the government of South Sudan and international community at large, why would our killing be better
while murle death is unworthy?

When the South Sudan government proposed the disarmament, we asked the government that our community should be disarmed at the last minutes because we have the principle of not attacking any community without reasons. Any community we fought in the South Sudan had first humiliated us, attacked us or mistreated our community members for
long time. The government of South Sudan had united against us when we regret not to surrender our guns. They had launched an attack aggressively against our Youth in the Cattle camps and in the Lou Nuer surrounding areas during the disarmament time. We insisted not to give our guns simply because we bought them with our cattle and resources but our elders intervened and many meeting were conducted to give our guns to the government. We voluntarily give the guns to the head division of Jonglei and we believed that the current government was witness to our voluntary disarmament.

After we were disarmed, we thought that the disarmament may proceed to the other communities in Jonglei. Unfortunately, they stopped the disarmament from the Lou Nuer and Murle got an opportunity to kill our
members all the times. We had realized that our disarmament was an optional plan for the government of President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar to allow Murle people to kill us and finish us all. What did we do? During the presidential election time, we voted without any doubt behind President Kiir Mayardit.

He has shown up in Waat and Akobo during the election campaign and we kindly received him with respect. Although he lies and left an agenda that he would never fulfil, we respect his tolerant, patient and the fact that he fought aggressively for the success of South Sudan independent. This simple reason had convinced the majority of Lou Nuer Youth. We stand behind him until these days but trust of the leadership should not be used as an exchange for the life of our community members. He knows very well that majority of the people had welcomed and greeted him in Akobo and Waat until he promised that he will build the biggest Jonglei Health Center in Waat.

Few months ago, our Youth representatives had called for peaceful settlement negotiation between the Lou Nuer and the Murle. Rev-Deng Bul was a key speaker to the peace initiative and conflict resolution but Murle community had rejected our call in present of Rev- Deng Bul. They refused to talk to us while we were the victims of their attacks on August 18/2011 and in the past. We are wondering if we should be the one to pursue peace alone or they are the one to add more hands on peace settlement negotiations.

We happened to accept peace simply because our elders and officials had pursued us to forgive Murle and forget what they had done to our vulnerable members especially children and old people in Uror County but Murle kept killing, attack villages and kidnapping children in daily basis around Lou Nuer area and in Jonglei society at large. We have heard yesterday that President Kiir Mayardit had dispatched taskforces of the SPLA and the UN troops to Jonglei territories after our anticipated self-defence action against the Murle community. We still hold our breath that South Sudan or Jonglei government is not a part of our target though some participated initially to our sufferings. If we have ill intentions against the government of South Sudan or State government, we would have opened the door to the rebels
and the government of Jonglei would not be in Bor town by then.

In many occasions, we had rejected George Athor (rebels) calls overwhelmingly but yet the government of South Sudan does not recognize and believed us as a part of state-building. Our being silence to this enduring mistreatments is not a fear but respect for the South Sudanese community. We had called and written many letters to Kiir Mayardit himself but nothing materialized as to disarm Murle or send the Murle elders to their community for peace mobilizations.

By then, we had captured Lilkuangole, Pibor and we are still after the real Murle warriors that had killed thousands of Lou Nuer members, children and women. We respect the properties of the international organization (UN), RSS and the SPLA. We had interacted almost with UN troops and the SPLA troops in Lilkuangole and Pibor but we avoid them, knowing that they are not the target. We only targeted our main enemy although we knew that all of the Murle people were taken as refugee by the UN troops and the SPLA forces in Lilkuangole and Pibor. We knew very well that they are there with UN troops and the SPLA forces but our objective does not goes beyond, to radical launch an attack to the
UN compound and fight the SPLA forces unless if they launch an attack to us in defend of Murle.

The United Nations charter, article 51 apply to all human beings on earth and therefore, we realized that our being silent for long times is a clear mistake. We should have taken any step as long as it is an anticipated self-defence. We ask the government of South Sudan to bring this injustice to an end by this year or otherwise, we will do more attacks as to revenges the Mareng attacks, Nyandit attack and few attacks going on after us in Lou Nuer territoires while we are here in
Murle Land. If eye for an eye will work, then we missed the magic for long time.

We need the government of South Sudan first to bring our 180 children and women being kidnapped by Murle plus our cattle. We strongly asked the government of South Sudan to disarm Murle first, deploys troops in the border to intercept the Murle’s movement at night and day times and after all these steps, we will give our guns to the authority, knowing that we are in peace. The Lou Nuer members will always retaliate in self defence as long as the enemy attack us first. The
Land of Lou Nuer had never been crossed by enemy and it would be a surprise if the Murle attempted to cross it from East to West or South to North of Lou Nuer territories. We had danced in their land for few days but yet there is no better confrontation from them. “Justice Delay is justice denial!”

Happy New Year!

The Lou Nuer Youth in frontline at Pibor and Lilkuangole, Jonglei. You
can try to reach us at hotrevenge@gmail.com

http://www.southsudannewsagency.com/news/press-releases/the-lou-nuer-youth-in-murle-territories-rejected-inappropriate-labeling-of-their-anticipated-self-defence-against-the-murle-community-in-jonglei

Dr. Jok Madut Jok: A Deputy Minister in the Government of South Sudan “Brutally Tortured” on New Year Eve

“You see, they may be drunk, but that is how we liberated this country.”

By Dr. Jok Madut Jok

In my “free country,” South Sudan, there is very little such thing as freedom. This morning, on New Year’s eve, i arrived in Wau, hoping to celebrate with my family, I had the misfortune of arriving at Wau airport on the same day that our President was also due there, coming from his Christmas holiday in Akon. As soon as i landed and tried to get into the car that was waiting for me, myself and my two brothers who came to pick me up were attacked by an SPLA unit, supposedly stationed there to secure the airport for our President. I was brutally attacked, my arms tight by several men, a blow to the side of my head with the butt of a gun and several punches straight onto both of my eyes, no questions asked, not even any accusations of wrong doing. i was tortured properly while i had quickly shown the soldiers my identity card, demonstrating that i am a senior official in the national government, undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture, and the ID was thrown away and several men wrestled me to the ground, on the dry season red dust of Wau for those who have been to Wau, my wonderful blue suit and all. Here is South Sudan, our new country, the one we could not wait to gain independence, is now where such actions have become so common place. what happened to the good old system, where a soldier, once having witnessed a suspicious behavior on the part of the civilian, asking him or her to identify themselves, detain them if need be, interrogate them, or take them to court? torture first and questions, why?

With my bloodied eye, bruised face and a concussion, i was left shocked and in pain, but i was eventually let go, no explanation, no apologies. so the physical pain was unbearable, but it was nothing compared to the pain in the soul of a citizen, whose travels abroad and the abuses we encountered in Foreign countries, the Egyptian racism, northern Sudanese prejudices, the abuses of the Kenyan police or immigration officers in Europe, were all endured because of the dream of a homeland, a free one such as do have now. We used to beat our chests that we too have a homeland and we will one return. But with this, the physical pain, the humiliation bear no weight compared to the silent cries, “why, why, at home, in the country i have yearned for all my life?” It is especially painful and worrying that it all unfolded right infront of army officers forming a jeering spectator of my abuse, of a civilian being treated worse than one of those thieving dogs that the entire neighborhood wants to kill. And here i was, someone who is supposedly their colleague in the service of the same nation these soldier work for, appointed by the same president they were supposedly protecting.

With the responsibility of a senior civil servant, I was being hit, kicked, called a “traitor from Khartoum,” but expected the soldier to uphold his responsibility. Respecting the uniform of country’s army, an emblem of sovereignty, i did not dare hit back at the soldiers, but the soldiers read it as cowardice or weakness. Now all of this will probably be investigated and apologies will issued, but nothing will take the pain away. But my physical pain and humiliation on a Saturday morning on New Year’s Eve will surely heal and life will go on. What will remain most unbearable is the s pain coming from a sense of worry for my country. If an army, one of the strongest pillars of a nation can treat citizens, the very reason for the existence of the army, in this manner, where is the future of such an army and what is the fate of the nation? If this sort of thing happens to a senior government official, what should we imagine happens to ordinary citizens, people who don’t even have ID cards to quickly show who they are?

In South Sudan, pain and all, one can’t help laugh at the same, a kind of laughter out of pity for us all. As i was seated on the floor, being interrogated, several drunken soldiers, the ones “protecting” our leader, kept interrupting their officer with really unsoldierly behavior, and instead of the officer reprimanding them, he told me “you see, they may be drunk, but that is how we liberated this country.” There is that phrase, so commonly used as justification for misconduct. “We liberated it” is now thrown in your face left and right, even if it means taking the liberty to be drunk on the job, loot public property, claim entitlement for a job one is not qualified for, beat or even shoot to kill civilians over nonsense.

South Sudan probes beating of senior official in Wau

January 2, 2012 (JUBA) – South Sudan said Monday it is investigating an allegation of assault against a senior official in the national government by forces believed to have been from the new nations military.

An armed group, allegedly members Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), beat up Jok Madut Jok, an undersecretary in the country’s ministry of culture, at Wau airport on 31 December, Sudan Tribune has been told.

South Sudan, which became independent in July, has a checkered human rights record with journalists and the country’s top UN human rights official being badly beaten by security forces in 2011.

The attack on the senior official, occurred when he arrived at Wau airport from Juba, on the same day that President Salva Kiir was passing through on the way back from his Christmas holiday in his home state of Warrap.

The reason for the attack is unclear. The Western Bahr el Ghazal state minister of information was not able to give Sudan Tribune an explanation.

Akot Mayen, a resident of Wau, told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that witnessed soldiers wearing SPLA uniform beating up Jok outside the airport.

“I was surprised when I saw Professor Jok Madut Jok being beaten and wrestled down by a group of soldiers yesterday. I thought he had committed a crime that would warrant military intervention […] I was not expecting that the soldiers could mercilessly beat him like the way I saw it considering that he is a senior government official”, he explained.

In a statement to Sudan Tribune on Sunday Jok remarked that the incident showed the was “no freedom” in South Sudan despite the country gaining independence from north Sudan in July.

Decades of civil war, in which 2 million died and 4 million were displaced, led to South Sudan’s secession as part of a 2005 peace deal.

Jok said he arrived in Wau on Saturday morning hoping to celebrate New Year’s Eve with his family but was attacked by SPLA soldiers before he could enter the car his two brothers had come in to collect him.

The official said he believes that he was beaten up by the SPLA soldiers, who were supposed to be securing the airport, as his arrival coincided with the time when the President was expected to land from his Christmas holiday in Akon.

“I was brutally attacked, my arms tight by several men, a blow to the side of my head with the butt of a gun and several punches straight onto both of my eyes, no questions asked, not even any accusations of wrong doing.”

Jok said that he tried to show “the soldiers my identity card, demonstrating that I am a senior official in the national government, undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture, and the ID was thrown away and several men wrestled me to the ground.”

The solders were operating a “torture first” policy, without asking any questions, leaving Jok with a “bloodied eye, bruised face and a concussion”, he said.

“I was left shocked and in pain, but I was eventually let go, no explanation, no apologies. So the physical pain was unbearable, but it was nothing compared to the pain in the soul of a citizen, whose travels abroad and the abuses we encountered in Foreign countries were all endured because of the dream of a homeland, a free one such as do have now”, he said.

He argued that it was ironic that the SPLA could do this to one of its own people having fought so long for the freedom to be an independent nation.

The physical pain and the humiliation bore no weight, he said, compared to disillusionment that this was the country he had “yearned for all my life”.

“It is especially painful and worrying that it all unfolded right in front of army officers forming a jeering spectator of my abuse, of a civilian being treated worse than one of those thieving dogs that the entire neighborhood wants to kill.

“And here I was, someone who is supposedly their colleague in the service of the same nation these soldier work for, appointed by the same president they were supposedly protecting. With the responsibility of a senior civil servant, I was being hit, kicked, called a ’traitor from Khartoum’,” he said.

He claimed that he did not fight back out of respect for the uniform of country’s army, as it was an emblem of sovereignty but that the soldiers read this as “cowardice or weakness”.

Jok said he expects that “all of this will probably be investigated and apologies will be issued, but nothing will take the pain away.”

“If this sort of thing happens to a senior government official, what we should imagine happens to ordinary citizens”, he asked.

He observed that while seated on the floor, being interrogated, several soldiers who he believed to be drunk, repeatedly interrupted their officer. However, instead of reprimanding them, Jok says that the officer told him “you see, they may be drunk, but that is how we liberated this country.”

Jok concluded his statement to Sudan Tribune by saying:

“There is that phrase, so commonly used as justification for misconduct. We liberated it is now thrown in your face left and right, even if it means taking the liberty to be drunk on the job, loot public property, claim entitlement for a job one is not qualified for, beat or even shoot to kill civilians over nonsense.”

(ST)

http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Sudan-probes-beating-of,41162

South Sudan: Sorry Undersecretary of Culture Prof. Jok
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Jok Madut Jok, Undersecretary of Ministry of Culture for the unfortunate incident in which he was beaten, manhandled and harassed by the Presidential guards of HE the President of the Republic ofSouth Sudan President Salva Kiir at Wau Airport. …

South Sudan: Responses On the Narration of Jok Madut Jok, Undersecretary of …
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… beaten in the hands of security people no one from the government could believe, what has happened now to the top government official showed the conduct of the army, police and any security organ in the new nation towards citizens of South Sudan. …